Soccer is a game of feet. Not just of inches and yards, but of flesh
and bone. No wonder shoes are so important to big-name ball booters like
the US's Clint Mathis and France's Zinedine Zidane, who will do World Cup
battle in Japan and South Korea this summer clad in this $210 cleat. The
Adidas' Predator Mania is an assemblage so complex that most of its basic
science didn't exist when old man Adidas himself, Adi Dassler, dreamed
up his first athletic shoe in 1920.

- Steve Kotler

It's Better With Kangaroo
The ideal soccer shoe fits like a glove without reducing foot flexibility.
In 1955, Adidas became the first company to scour the animal kingdom for
a leather with more give than cowhide. Kangaroos turned out to be the lucky
critters. So prized are their pelts that 6 million are killed annually
in the world's largest wild animal slaughter. Adidas is the top consumer
in the footwear biz. Fortunately, kangaroos are sex-crazed multiplying
machines with no predators - except the makers of shoes like the Predator.

Dangerous Swerve Ahead
The more friction at the point of contact, the greater the ball's spin.
And the more spin, the more "swerve" - the arcing bend that can wrench
a shot into the goal. To increase friction, Adidas tested hundreds
of different rubber combinations using a robotic leg
to mimic a free kick. Engineers settled on a grooved forefoot that wicks
water like a tire and that's more pliant for maximum ball contact. The
rubber produces
20 percent more rotations than plain leather. That can be the difference
between "Goal!!!" and "Go home!"

Enlightened Sole
Prior to the Predator, all soccer shoe soles were built as a single piece.
Adidas found that by splitting the sole in two, it could increase flexibility
and slightly reduce the plastic support structure, thus cutting the shoe's
overall weight. At 300 grams - a little heavier than two D batteries -
the Predator is lighter than most of the competition. (Nike's new 196-gram
Mercurial Vapor is the lightest.) That translates intogreater running,
dribbling, jumping, and stopping ability.

Ties That Don't Bind
Standard shoes lace straight up the center. The Predator's laces curve
like a banana toward the outside of the foot. That minimizes pressure on
the top of the foot, where most major nerves and blood vessels are. It
also clears the way for the most important bone in a soccer player's body
- the first metatarsal - to contact the ball with minimum interference.

That Magnesium - What a Stud
Early soccer matches were held on fields some 4 miles long, but by 1850
the 100-yard version had become the standard. Along with it came the need
for quick stops, starts, and spins. In 1925, Adi Dassler got the idea to
pound leather studs through a soccer boot's hard sole. Leather eventually
evolved into rubber, nylon, and then aluminum. Now Adidas, taking a tip
from the auto industry, is building the Predator's replaceable cleats from
magnesium, which is four times lighter and twice as strong as aluminum.

Changing Its Stripes
Those three telltale stripes arrived in 1949, ushering
in a half century of logo mojo. In place of the traditional stitched-on
leather, the Predator sports an injected rubber version that wraps around
to the sole, leaving a smoother kicking surface. The stripes will battle
Nike's swoosh for the swift sales kick that the World Cup
can deliver. In the wake of 1998's contest, Adidas saw US sales jump by
about 15 percent - to $130 million.